Max Klinger at the Legion: About A Glove

Penelope, Legion of Honor Database

Waking Dreams: Max Klinger and the Symbolist Print
February 28, 2009 — September 6, 2009

Drawn from the collection of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Waking Dreams highlights the dream-like etchings of Max Klinger (1857–1920), the German Symbolist artist best known for his enigmatic portfolio Paraphrases About the Finding of a Glove (1881). In addition to his activities as a painter and sculptor, Klinger was one of the most imaginative graphic artists of the late 19th century. He was a technical virtuoso who had the ability to literally transcribe his innermost visions, the daydreams, fantasies and nightmares of his highly creative and profoundly romantic soul. Waking Dreams presents Klinger’s graphic oeuvre alongside visionary etchings, lithographs and woodcuts by his precursors and contemporaries. Included are macabre and fantastic prints by French artists Charles Méryon, Rodolphe Bresdin, and Odilon Redon; the Belgians Félicien Rops and James Ensor; and the Norwegian Edvard Munch.

Dating from 1881, the ten etchings in the cycle "Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove" anticipate both Freud and the surrealists with a mixture of obsession, fetish, fixation, dream and nightmare imagery. First exhibited first in Berlin 1878 as ink drawings, the images are enigmatic and terrifying, a parable (perhaps) of eroticism and unobtainable love told through exquisite black and white etchings.

The series starts at the entrance to a roller-skating rink in Berlin. To the far left is Klinger himself (with the dark beard), together with his painter friend Hermann Prell. Except for the man with the walking stick, all the people have their skates on and are watching a little girl falling down. Klinger (or his alter-ego) is fixated on the lady on the right. The curtain is going up on an interior drama where the realities of the daytime world have no meaning. In the second plate, a mysterious woman is skating away from our hero. He bends to pick up a glove but does it belong to her or does it belong to the woman in the upper left who is between two men, and skating out of the frame. And what about the dog? If the artist picks up the glove, he apparently does not return it to its owner but then, it's quite unclear who is the owner. In the third plate, the artist is in despair, the sacred object is close but the symbolism is more and more ambiguous. Trees are growing out of the glove and the candle is unlit. Next, our hero is in a storm tossed boat, trying to rescue the glove. How did it get there but through the action of dreams in which one illogical scene morphs into another, all propelled by fantasy, fear and unfulfilled desire. In plate five, the glove is driving a chariot, whose horses trample over a tempestuous landscape. Next, the delirious artist is haunted by the glove, which now appears half-human and completely menacing. The glove is worshiped and then, seized by a prehistoric creature. Although it hasn’t brought the artist any peace, he reaches for it in vain as the flying pterodactyl flies off into the night.

The final image in this series is titled “Cupid” but not Cupid as we normally see him. His wings are like those of an insect and the scale of the objects makes the ending of the series unclear. Has the glove grown or is Cupid just very small? Is he on a table or situated in a landscape?In any case, it's clear that the glove, lost, found, strayed or tranformed into an actor in this surrealistic drama, has not brought the painter any peace or satisfaction.

The exhibit is small but beautifully planned. It’s an emotional shock to walk through the medieval and renaissance exhibits and into a room filled with the morbid and frightening fantasies of the early 20th century – almost as if the artist had a premonition of what was to come. The exhibit also shows works by other symbolist artists: Redon, Ensor, Munch and more. The show is up until September 6th and makes an interesting contrast to the works of Baldassari whose works could be seen as a more contemporary variation of symbolism but without the morbid overtones or indeed, the psychological depth of Klinger.

Images from: http://art-bin.com/art/klingertexts/klinger.html

E-mail Nancy Ewart at namastenancy@hotmail.com